Faith-based publishers
reported a modest bump in hardcover sales for October, though net paperback
sales fell by 32% compared to the previous October, according to the latest
figures available from the Association of American Publishers (AAP).

Net paperback sales from
religious presses fell from $10.7 million in October 2012 to $7.3 million in
October a year later. That drop resulted in the total net paperback sales for
the first 10 months of 2013 declining 4% over the same period in 2012—$106.9
million and $111.3 million, respectively.

Meanwhile, net hardcover
sales from religious presses grew by 8.3% in October, with sales of $36.4
million surpassing October 2012’s $33.6 million. This growth helped to somewhat
offset an overall downward slump in hardcover sales for the first 10 months of
2013, with year-to-date hardcover sales at the end of October down 6.6% versus
the same period in 2012—$235.1 million, from $251.7 million a year before.

Religious presses’ net
sales of all titles, including ebooks, shrank from $60 million in October 2012
to $59.7 million in October 2013, a 0.4% decrease. Total net sales from the
first 10 months of 2013 fell by 3.7% compared to the same period in 2012—$462.5
million versus $480.4 million, respectively.

Religious presses’
e-books continue to show slight gains—$5 million in October 2013 versus $4.9
million in October 2012, a 1.8% increase, helping to boost e-book sales for
first 10 months of 2013 to $52.4 million, a 2.5% increase over the $51.1
million sold in the same period of 2012.